PRIESTDADDY, by Patricia Lockwood

Priestdaddy is a mix of memoir and "expose" (more like reflection) about an unusual family. The protagonist's father is a married Catholic priest (yes, that is possible in certain circumstances--he converted and got ordained after having established his family). The story is told from the point-of-view of the adult  daughter, a young poet, who relays the circumstances of her meeting online and marriage to her partner Jason and escaping her confining and odd life with her parents' uber-Catholic yet unorthodox household.  She finds she must return to live at home again, broke and in need of support, this time with her new husband in tow. The book illustrates vignettes of that odd life, particularly focusing on the character of her priest-daddy, an eccentric and opinionated, even carnal man with a "colorful" personality, and her mother who is obedient but not without character. Intertwined in the depiction of this odd household is the narrative of the girl's childhood and "spiritual journey" to becoming a poet and to some extent "unbeliever". She's very reflective and has a poet's gift for phrasing which is also replete with humor, much of it sarcastic and sometimes hard-edged. I found out after reading the book that the author, Patricia Lockwood, is considered "indie-poetry royalty" and is known for her love of shock appeal and unusual treatment of sexual themes, (e.g., her poem "Rape Joke", etc.) The book holds together and she avoids bitterness while at the same time mixing humor with reflection on issues of faith and the Church, family, and the love/hate dynamic at the center of her relationship with her "priestdaddy".


For a review of the novel from The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/27/priestdaddy-by-patricia-lockwood-review